Transcript rienishi.jimdo.com

Rieko Nishida, Ph.D.
Osaka University
IATEFL March 23, 2012
PROJECT-BASED TEACHING PRACTICE IN THE
JAPANESE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL EFL
LEARNERS
INTRODUCTION
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As has been announced by the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in Japan,
‘foreign language activities’ for the fifth and sixth grades
will officially commence in 2011. The emphasis is on
enhancing the joy of communication and providing various
experiences that will help students understand different
cultures and languages. To address the requirement for
‘foreign language activities’, 35 hours have been
timetabled for foreign language activities in the public
elementary schools.
INTRODUCTION
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In such circumstances, some public elementary schools
have used project-based teaching practices linked to
content-based approaches (Nishida, 2009, 2010). Studies
in project-based teaching practice which focus on high
school students (Yashima & Zenuk-Nishide, 2008) and
university students (Hiromori & Tanaka, 2006) have also
been conducted.
PREVIOUS STUDY:
DRAMA TECHNIQUES IN LANGUAGE TEACHING
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According to Maley and Duff (2005), applying drama
techniques to language teaching has several benefits.
Some skills that they emphasized can be used with young
learners. Drama technique integrates verbal and nonverbal communication so that it restores the balance
between physical and intellectual aspects of language
learning.
PREVIOUS STUDY:
DRAMA TECHNIQUES IN LANGUAGE TEACHING
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When students learn languages, they bring their different
experiences, different backgrounds, as well as different
memories. “It is this we seek tap into; and in doing so, we
inevitably restore some of the neglected emotional content
to language, along with a renewed attention to what is
physical about language” (Maley & Duff, 2005, p.2). In
fact, for decades, drama techniques have been applied in
foreign language learning (see more for Sano, 1986;
Williams, 1981).
STUDY CONTEXT:
PARTICIPANTS
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A total of 116 students participated in the study
including 47 boys and 59 girls aged between 10
and 11 years old.
Boys
Girls
54
62
Students’ Experience in English
Grades
Annual English Hours
4th
10 hrs.
3rd
2 hrs.
THE MUSICAL PROJECT
-THE LION KING•
The fifth graders had the special musical
script that consisted of 8 scenes with
dialogues and 4 advanced songs in English
based on a famous American movie.
TABLE 1. TITLES OF EACH SCENE
Title of Each Scene
Scene1
All the animals are happy to see a baby lion.
Scene2
The baby lions are lost in the hyenas' territory!!!
Scene3
The uncle lion wants to become king of the animal kingdom.
Scene4
The father lion is trapped by the uncle lion and the father dies.
Scene5
Now, the uncle lion is the king.
Scene6
The pig and the raccoon help the baby lion
Scene7
The baby lion meets with his old friends.
Scene8
The baby lion and his friends fight with the uncle lion and the hyenas
HOURS OF ENGLISH LESSONS FOR
THE MUSICAL PROJECT (PRACTICE SESSIONS)
Table1: Timeline until the Musical Presentation (Parents Day)
Phase 1: Classroom Practice (7 hours)
Contents of Practice
Scenes
Songs
the scenes 1, 2
one song
the scenes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
one song
the scenes 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
one song
N/A
three songs
N/A
three songs
Dates
Day1
Day2
Day3
Day4
Day5
September 11, 2007
October 9, 2007
October 31, 2007
November 26, 2007
December 13, 2007
HRTs discussed and the scenes were decided for each class. So each class only practiced scenes.
Day6 January 18, 2008
Day7 January 24, 2008
the scenes 3, 7
the scenes 3, 7
four songs
four songs
*Note 1) A musical script consisted of 8 scenes
*Note 2) Students were learning 4 advanced songs
Phase 2: Practice at Gym (11 hours)
All 4 classes practiced together
Day8
Day9
Day10
Day11
Day12
Dates
February 6, 2008 (2 hours of practices)
February 8, 2008 (2 hours of practices)
February 12 2008 (2 hours of practices)
February 13, 2008 (3 hours of practices)
February 14, 2008 (2 hours of rehearsal)
Parents' Day
Contents of Practice
Practiced 4 songs and movements in the scene
In the morning: Rehearsal
In the afternoon: Parents' Day
EXAMPLE1: SCENE 2
(BABY LIONS ARE LOST IN HYENA’ TERRITORY!!!)
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Narrator: Baby lions and the parrot are lost in hyena’s place.
Student A (baby lion): Hey, let’s go to a cool place.
Student B (baby lion’s friend): The cool place? Where?
Student A (baby lion): Come with me.
Student C (parrot): Wait!
Song: Lion Sleeps Tonight (Students sing the song all together)
(they all lose their way and go to Hyena’s place)*.
Student A: Oh we are lost!
(Hyenas are getting closer to them. They are hungry).
Student D (hyena 1): Hello, Hello, Hello.
Student E (hyenas 2): We are hungry!
Student F (hyenas 3): Yeah, we are hungry!
Student G (hyenas 4): You are my dinner!!!
Student A, B, and C (baby lions and parrot): Run!! (They try to run away from this
place).
(The father appears and helps baby lions and the parrot).
Student H (father lion): Roar! Roar! He is my son!!
Students (rest of hyenas): Sorry! (They run away).
*Italics are explained in Japanese.
EXAMPLE2: SCENE 6
(THE PIG AND THE RACCOON HELP THE BABY LION)
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Narrator: The baby lion meets with the pig and the raccoon.
(Giraffes, zebras, monkeys and elephants are looking at the baby lion, as the baby
lion is nearly dead in the jungle)
Students (giraffes): Hello, hello, are you OK?
Students (zebras): Are you OK?
Students (monkeys): What is this? It is a lion!
Students (elephants): Oh! No! It’s a lion!!
Student A (pig): Oh, he is alive. Very cute.
Student B (raccoon): Help him.
Student A (pig): OK!
(The Baby Lion gets up)
Student C (baby lion): Thank you very much. … who are you?
Student A (pig): I am A. (adding the pig’s name)
Student B (raccoon): I am B. (adding the raccoon’s name)
Student C (baby lion): I am C. (adding the baby lions’ name)
Students A and B (pig and raccoon): Do you know this song? Hakuna Matata! Let’s
sing together!!
THROUGHOUT THE COURSE: IN THE CLASS AND
OUTSIDE THE CLASS
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Throughout the course, we saw changes in the students in
the class and outside the class, and changes in students’
willingness to communicate and motivation were also
observed. In order to look more closely at the changes in
the students over the course of this musical project,
Nishida and Yashima conducted a series of studies
(please refer to Nishida, 2011; Nishida & Yashima, 2009,
2010 for more details). Figure 1, from Nishida and
Yashima (2009), shows how students’ willingness to
communicate, intrinsic motivation, perceived competency
and autonomy increased after the musical practice.
INVESTIGATION 1: ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
(SEE NISHIDA & YASHIMA, 2009 FOR MORE DETAILS)
Graph1: Mean scores of motivation, autonomy, competency, relatedness and WTC
at pre-tests and post-tests
THROUGHOUT THE COURSE: IN THE CLASS AND
OUTSIDE THE CLASS
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Throughout the course, as this musical performance was
quite challenging for students, the teachers emphasized
“modeling and repetition”. As the teachers provided
sufficient assistance, students were able to understand
what they had to say and how to act, as well as being able
to produce the target words and sentences. For young
children,
I believe appropriate assistance from their teachers is a
vital part of learning, enabling students to produce target
language as well as enhancing their willingness to
communicate in a different language and to fulfill their
perceived competency in language.
THROUGHOUT THE COURSE: IN THE CLASS AND
OUTSIDE THE CLASS
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Outside the class, homeroom teachers played these songs
during lunch time, and students sang these songs when
they went to a ski camp. Their singing voices were heard in
the corridors, and they were heard using dialogues in
physical education classes such as soccer. English was, in
a way, absorbed into their daily life (see Nishida & Yashima,
2009 for more details). Even a year later, right before
graduation day, students were singing songs in the
corridor that they had learned in the project. Teachers
believe that the musical will be a memorable experience
from their early days of foreign language learning.
SUMMARY
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In order to conduct such a large project, elaborative planning is
necessary, and teachers need to work hard without sparing
themselves. But for students, such a project is a rewarding
experience and will be an unforgettable memory from their
childhood.
The research connected with this project (see Nishida, 2011,
Nishida & Yashima, 2009, 2010, for more details) showed that
students’ sense of autonomy and competency, crucial factors
for intrinsic motivation, had shown an increase after the
musical project. Although this project has been conducted only
once up till now1, a similar project might be suitable for
teachers to integrate in curricula – perhaps the integration of a
story that students already knew and/or had learned in another
subject.
SUMMARY
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Overall, either a small project or a large project including a
goal-oriented activity can be beneficial for young learners:
it may enhance students’ motivation, foster students’
positive attitudes toward communication, as quantitative
data has shown (Nishida & Yashima, 2009), and a project
in a similar vein may deepen their understanding of
different cultures and languages.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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